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Skip Heitzig: We are in Psalm 144, a less familiar psalm to a lot of us, but something that I think we'll enjoy together. Back in 1776, July 4, 1776, 13 American colonies, now free from British rule, signed onto a document called the Declaration of Independence that said, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men were created equal, they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."

Our fathers understood that there's a God in heaven who enables us to have life, liberty, and to pursue happiness. So the question is, does God want to make you happy? I will just say that is a complicated question because there's a lot of answers people give to that, and many of them are just canned, pat answers, ranging all the way from, "Well, of course, God wants to make me happy. I'm awesome. Who wouldn't want to make me happy?"

Or they would say, "God doesn't really want you happy. He wants you holy." Or they would say, "He wants you joyful, but not necessarily happy, and there's a difference between happiness, which is circumstantial, and joy, which is permanent, eternal, and deeper." Some would even say he doesn't necessarily want you happy, but he does want you blessed. They'll make that distinction.

To be honest, I don't find any of those answers particularly helpful. I even find some of them misleading. So I'd like to unpack some thoughts. I think we can all agree that the result of the gospel that we have heard, the gospel that announces that we are forgiven of all of our past and we have hope in heaven, that that should bring a level of happiness to anybody who receives that. In fact, I would even say a gloomy Christian is sort of a contradiction.

"What happened to you?" "I became a Christian, and therefore I'm always bummed out and really serious." That's not like a great testimony, is it? To be sanctified doesn't mean you have to be sad. Randy Alcorn wrote, "When we separate God from happiness and from our longing for happiness, we undermine the Christian worldview. The Bible is a vast reservoir containing not dozens but hundreds of passages conveying happiness."

Yes, I understand you can make a distinction between happiness and joy. I've done that in the past. It's easy to say, "Well, happiness goes up and down, it's based on what's happening around you. Joy is a deep-seated delight in God that doesn't go anywhere determined by your circumstance." I did a little digging in the scriptures this week, and I made this discovery: the word "happy" only appears 24 times in the whole Bible and only twice in the New Testament.

The word "happiness" only appears once in the whole Bible, and it's in Deuteronomy 24, that a man can bring happiness to his wife if he stays home from war. Whereas the word "joy" is found 158 times, "joyful" another 23 times. But I think when we try to separate happiness from joy and we take it to the extreme, that we are making artificial distinctions.

I think there's an overlap in some of these terms. Terms like happiness, gladness, merriment, delight, joy, pleasure, all of those things are a result of an abiding faith in Christ. So I think it's okay to say God wants me to be happy, but we don't always understand what that is. So I would say yes, God wants us happy, but perhaps not in the way that we think of happiness.

God wants us happy, yes, but not in some shallow, emotional, fleeting, momentary kind of a way. Yes, God wants us to be happy, but we don't always know what's going to bring us true happiness. And this is why so many people in the world are unhappy. They're pursuing happiness, and they've taken the Declaration of Independence and they're running with it. "I am pursuing happiness," but so many never find it. It's like a dog chasing its tail.

They go around and around and around, but they never get it. And there's a reason for that, and here's the reason: happiness is never found by direct pursuit. Happiness is never found by direct pursuit. Happiness is a byproduct of pursuing something else. Do you remember when Jesus described the full, satisfied, carefree life in the Sermon on the Mount? He never said, "Pursue after it, chase it."

He said this: "Don't worry about your life. Don't worry about what you're going to eat, what you're going to drink, what you're going to wear, for after all these things the Gentiles seek or pursue after. But seek first the kingdom of God, and all these things will be thrown in, added unto you." So I've had you turn to Psalm 144, and you will notice that the very last verse of that has our word.

It says, "Happy are the people who are in such a state," and we'll look at that state in a moment. "Happy are the people whose God is the Lord." What I'd like to do is actually give you a few reasons for experiencing happiness as a child of God. And the first reason is something that when you hear it, you're going to think doesn't make sense. You should experience happiness because of life's conflicts.

Yes, you heard me correctly. Some of you are trying to edit that in your mind and say, "No, you should say in spite of life's conflicts." No, I said because of life's conflicts. Look at verse one: "Blessed be the Lord my rock, who trains my hands for war and my fingers for battle." You will notice the military language scattered throughout this psalm. "My loving kindness and my fortress, my high tower, my deliverer, my shield, and the one in whom I take refuge, who subdues my people under me."

Go down to verse five: "Bow down your heavens, O Lord, and come down. Touch the mountains, and they shall smoke. Flash forth lightning and scatter them. Shoot out your arrows and destroy them." It's like he's praying that God would send a storm like in the days of Joshua. "Stretch out your hand from above. Rescue me and deliver me out of great waters, from the hand of foreigners whose mouths speak vain words and whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood."

Verse 11 again: "Rescue me and deliver me." David wrote this psalm in a war. Now scholars aren't sure which war he's talking about. It's really impossible to know. Some commentators say it was a war with the Moabites, others say a war with the Ammonites. Really, I mean, does it matter? I guess it does historically, but to us, we don't know. I mean, he always was fighting Ammonites, Moabites, Canaanites, termites. Somebody was fighting David.

But he was in the middle of a war, and though he is in a battle, he expects that he will experience a sense of well-being. You'll notice in verse two something he calls God that's a little bit different. He says, "My loving kindness and my fortress." Those are words for God. "My loving kindness and my fortress." The New Living Translation says, "My loving ally." In other words, "I'm in a war. I expect God to show up and help me."

And here's the point I want to make. Conflict, hardship, adversity, suffering—those are the things that shape our character. And when we get our character deepened and shaped, we become happier people. Listen to this in Romans chapter five, verse three. Paul says, "We also glory in tribulation." You could translate that, "We also get happy in our tribulation, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance and perseverance character, and character produces hope."

Guest (Male): This is Connect with Skip Heitzig. When you give to this ministry, you help reach thousands of people every day with God's life-changing truth, encouraging them to know Him and grow in His word. And to thank you for your support this month, we'll send you Reload Love: Transforming Bullets to Beauty and Battlegrounds to Playgrounds, a powerful book by Skip's wife, Lenya Heitzig.

It's a gripping, hope-filled story of how God transformed weapons of war into tools of joy and how playgrounds rose from battlegrounds because one person chose compassion over despair. Your gift today helps bring the life-changing message of hope in Jesus to people around the world through Connect with Skip. Request your copy when you give $50 or more at connectwithskip.com/offer or by calling 800-922-1888. Now here's more from Pastor Skip.

Skip Heitzig: "Happy are the poor in spirit. Happy are those who mourn. Happy are the persecuted. Happy are you when men say bad things about you, revile you, and say all manner of evil against you falsely for my namesake." Listen to what he says after that: "Rejoice." That means get really happy. "Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great was your reward in heaven." We go, "Really? He's not describing what I think would be a happy person. That sounds like misery under another name."

We would think happiness is the absence of conflict, not the presence of conflict. But that's not the case. I found a quote years ago I've always wanted to put this up, and this is a good time for it. William Phelps wrote this: "If happiness truly consisted of physical ease and freedom from care, then the happiest individual would not be a man nor a woman; it would be the American cow."

Listen, in conflict, we get clarity. We start understanding what real happiness is. It's not a fleeting moment of pleasure; it's character. Something's happening to me because hardship makes you holy. And when you get holy, guess what? You get happy. You get happy. It's a byproduct. Have you ever thought about what your life would be without any conflict at all? You say, "I cannot imagine that."

But you're thinking, "It sounds pretty good to me." But it's not. Without conflict, you would be shallow, spoiled, bored, entitled, and very unhappy. Conflict deepens your roots, strengthens your dependence on God, and contrary to what most people think, actually makes you happy. So sometimes the very things that we think would be the worst possible thing to happen become the best.

Think of the happiness of a father after years of grief receiving his prodigal son back again. Think of the happiness of a mother hearing the first cries of a newborn after hours of pain in labor. Think of the happiness of a patient after months of chemotherapy, only to hear now from her doctor, "Cancer-free." Think of the happiness of Paul in prison with his buddy, chained, singing songs of praise at midnight in the midst of it. Conflict can become the very pathway of happiness.

So number one, because of life's conflict. Let me give you another reason, another reason for experiencing happiness. Not just because of life's conflict, but because of our commitment. There's something interesting about this psalm. In verse nine, David, of course, is in a battle. He's fighting enemies. He's praying for help. But he says this in verse nine: "I will sing a new song to you, O God. On a harp of ten strings, I will sing praises to you, the one who gives salvation to kings, who delivers David his servant from the deadly sword."

What I'd like you to notice is that he makes a determination. It's a choice. "I will sing." Happiness is a choice. It's not always a feeling. It's like, "Okay, I'm going to wait for it. I'm going to get happy real soon." At some level, happiness is a choice. Abraham Lincoln used to say, "Folks are usually about as happy as they make up their minds to be."

Singing to God, David says, "I'm going to sing." Singing to God is a choice to make a declaration about God whether you feel like it or not. You could say, "You know, I should sing," or "I might sing if they have the right tune." No, "I'm going to sing." It's a determination. It's a choice. But it is based on something. It's based on his belief that he's going to be delivered. That's verse 10: "The one who gives salvation to kings, who delivers David his servant from the deadly sword."

In other words, "I've been fighting this battle, and I'm still alive, and I trust God will keep me alive. So, I will sing." And sometimes the power is you come to church and, man, life—the week's been hard for you. You've gone through so many difficult things. You barely made it to church. You're not feeling all that great. Sing. There's an artist, we've had him here before, and he's given the church so many great songs: Benjamin William Hastings.

He wrote a song called "That's the Thing About Praise," and there's a lot of lyrics, but some of the lyrics caught my attention as I looked at it the other day. He says, "When I reach the end of my bravery, I'll still be singing at the banks of an unparted sea." I just want you to get that picture in your mind. Picture the children of Israel going up to the Red Sea. It hasn't parted yet, but it will.

"So I'm standing at the banks. It's unparted. Life's hard right now. Sea has not opened up, but I will sing at the banks of an unparted sea." Sometimes the only way through it is a hallelujah, he writes. "It don't always fix your problem"—now I'd correct his English, but this is a song—"but it'll tell you how small they are. That's the thing about praise. It won't always move the mountain, but it's good for the heart. That's the thing about praise."

Now, when you do this, when you make a decision to sing, when you choose to declare your trust whether you feel like it or not, something happens to you. You go from victim to victor. You become a victor. Paul wrote this in Romans chapter eight: "As it is written, 'For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.' No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us."

We're not just conquerors; we're more than conquerors. You know, I've often read that verse and didn't quite understand. What does it mean to be more than a conqueror? I mean, isn't conquering good enough? Won't you be happy if you just say, "I conquered, I won"? Oh, but no, I'm more than that. So turns out that's a compound word, and it's the word *hupernikao*, which is like hyper-conqueror.

I'm a hyper-conqueror. I'm a super-conqueror. I'm an over-conqueror. It's conquering with strength and success left over. So guys, it's like having a car with a fuel-injected turbocharged V8 engine. Really, do you need all that power? I mean, you just need to pass the slow person in front of you on a Osuna. Any car will do that. But if you've got that car, you can pass the guy on Osuna and you could like outrun the police.

I am not suggesting that you do that. But you've got the power to spare. So here's the difference between a conqueror and a super-conqueror, more than a conqueror. A conqueror rejoices when the battle is over; more than a conqueror rejoices in the midst of the battle. At the banks of the unparted sea, they sing. I read a story about a man who visited a church in Connecticut, the first time he'd ever been in this church.

There's one point in the service where people stood up like we sometimes do, but they were singing the "Hallelujah Chorus," raising their hands, and he noticed one elderly, deformed lady because of arthritis, severely in pain, obviously. She had her crutches, and she with pain got to her feet and kind of bent over with her arms kind of twisted and gnarled, raised her hands in worship. And this visitor thought, "My goodness, what kind of Christian sings in that condition?"

I can answer that. Somebody who's more than a conqueror. Somebody who's more than a conqueror. So because of our commitment, "I will sing." Because of life's conflict, because of our commitment, there's a third reason for happiness: because of God's care. Verse three, David writes, "Lord, what is man that You take knowledge of him, or the son of man that You are mindful of him? Man is a breath. His days are like a passing shadow."

This reminds me of Psalm eight, also written by David, when he said, "When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars which You have ordained, what is man that You are mindful of him, or the son of man that You would visit him?" In other words, "You're God, You're eternal, You're all-powerful. I am just a little human being, very temporary in my existence, but You care. You care."

One of the quickest ways to get happy is to get the perspective that God cares for you. Now let me just say to you—I don't know what your spiritual condition is. I'm guessing most of you are ardent believers in Christ, but I'm guessing some are not, some may not even believe at all. Let me just say objectively, if I were to look at my world even scientifically and just look at my world, I think I would by natural observation conclude number one that there is a God based on design. There must be a designer.

But number two, I would concur objectively that this God wants us to be happy. That he is not a utilitarian God; he didn't just make us to survive and get by. But looking at my own body, he built the ability to enjoy things, to have pleasure. So for example, I don't just eat food; I have taste buds in my mouth. I have 10,000 microvilli—that's what they call them, little hairs on my tongue that are taste buds. By the way, you have 10,000 of them. They get replaced every two weeks. They're regenerated every two weeks. Why? God did that. Why? Take a bite of green chili, you'll find out why. Take a bite of that steak, you'll find out why. Buttered pancakes, that's why. Krispy Kreme donuts, that's why. Taste good, it's enjoyable, brings happiness.

Guest (Male): We're so glad you joined us today on Connect with Skip Heitzig. Before you go, remember that as our thanks for your gift today, we'll send you Lenya Heitzig's book Reload Love, a gripping, hope-filled story of God transforming battlegrounds into playgrounds. When you give, you help keep this Bible teaching ministry on the air, connecting more people with the truth of God's word and the hope found in Jesus. Give today at connectwithskip.com/offer or call 800-922-1888 and request your copy of Reload Love: Transforming Bullets to Beauty and Battlegrounds to Playgrounds when you do. See you next time.